Horrifying cases of cruelty against rare and protected birds were revealed in a report today.

Officials at the RSPB documented 1,206 crimes against birds including peregrine falcons, hen harriers, buzzards and white-tailed eagles last year.

Some of the cases they faced included an egg collector from Exhall who was ordered to undertake 50 hours community work last September after a search of his house uncovered four Skylark eggs, a camera, books and egg collecting equipment.

His fingerprint was found on the box of eggs and deleted images of nests were found on the camera.